Throwback Thursday: Time tunnel

In October 1989, the Oakland Athletics swept the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series after the third game was delayed more than a week because of the Loma Prieta earthquake; Larry King got married for the sixth time; and Phoenix was only ten months away from officially connecting Interstate 10 from coast to coast.

Today’s Throwback Thursday photograph comes to us from deep inside the still-under-construction Deck Park Tunnel. The crews here are working hard to make sure all aspects of the structure’s integrity are being assembled just in time for its August 1990 debut.

And now, 31 years later, almost a quarter million motorists travel through downtown Phoenix’s favorite underpass on a daily basis.

Of course, as we revel in reminding our dear readers, the Deck Park Tunnel isn’t really a tunnel at all! In fact, it’s a series of 19 connected bridges. Of course, “traffic is flowing fine through the 19 connected bridges” rolls off the tongue just as nicely as “Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?” or “The horse raced past the barn fell.”

But Valley drivers are keen to take it one step further by just calling it “The Tunnel.” And we’re okay with that.